Banks set to send 23 of 28 large dud accounts to NCLT on Wednesday

With just a day left for the December 13 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deadline to resolve the 28 large stressed accounts that the regulator had identified in its second list, banks are set to refer as many as 23 of them for insolvency proceedings.

In August, the Reserve Bank had asked banks to either resolve 28 more large stressed accounts by December 13 (which is tomorrow) or refer them to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by December 31.

These 28 accounts together account for 40 percent of the system wide bad loans or worth around Rs 4 trillion.

In the case of Anrak Aluminium, the lenders are looking for a one-time settlement, while for Soma Enterprises, the banker said the account is closer to resolution.

For Jaiprakash Associates (its EPC business arm), the lenders are seeking the Reserve Bank approval for a "deep restructuring", another banker said.

The lenders have also sought RBI permission to extend the December 13 deadline for Videocon Industries, where they have huge exposure, said another banker.

"If the RBI gives us some extension for Videocon Industries then it is fine, otherwise it will also have to go to NCLT," said the banker.

"For these accounts there is hardly any traction for us to do it in another 10-15 days," said a senior bank official from a state-run bank.

Till December 13, the lenders have the restructuring option under the S4A, SDR or 5/25 schemes.

Many bankers said though they asked for extension on the December 13 deadline, they don't expect the RBI to oblige. Once these accounts pass the resolution deadline, banks will have to refer them to the NCLT in the next 18 days, that is December 31.

Banks will also have to make a provision of 50 per cent on these account by March 2018.

It can be noted that of the 12 largest accounts that RBI had named in the June list, 11 of them are under NCLT. These 12 accouts were worth a quarter of the over Rs 10 trillion dud loans in the system.